I wasn’t planning on reading The Falconer by Elizabeth May this month. I’ve had the e-book on hold at the library for months, so when I got an email that it was available I put my October TBR aside to squeeze it in.

Title: The Falconer

Author: Elizabeth May

Publisher: Chronicle Books

Date of Publication: May 2014

Genre: YA Fantasy, Sci-Fi (Steampunk), Historical Fiction, Paranormal (fairies)

Page Count: 288 (e-book)

Click here to read Goodreads Synopsis

The Falconer, the first book of a trilogy, is an action-packed steampunk story with fairies that takes place in Scotland. It was really fun to read about personal flying machines with flapping wings powered by steam in 1844 Scotland. May highlights the divisions found in both human and fairy society, while focusing on the main theme of free will versus destiny.

The fairies stole the show for me. Derrick, the hilarious pixie that lives with Aileana, and Kiaran, an extremely powerful fairy who’s also Aileana’s mentour. Aileana is a smart young woman with a love of engineering who thrives when she’s out killing evil fairies at night. She’s fierce, impulsive, and determined to find and kill the one who murdered her mother.

Aileana’s thoughts and dialogue were immature for her age, and her best friend Catherine is the typical best friend who doesn’t serve a purpose in the story, except to give a connection to Catherine’s brother Gavin. I feel like we didn’t get to know Aileana’s mom enough to care that she’s dead, and if I don’t care about her mom then I’m certainly not going to care whether Aileana gets her revenge.

The pacing of the first quarter was a little slow, and it left me feeling bored. I almost wanted to stop reading and return the book to the library. Thankfully, the last half of The Falconer was fantastic. The plot moved along nicely, the writing quality felt better than the first half.

The ending is a cliffhanger that will left me wanting to abandon my October TBR and pick up the next book of the series, The Vanishing Throne. I have some ARCS to read and review though, hence The Falconer series will have to wait.

“Elizabeth May is the author of the YA fantasy trilogy The Falconer (The Falconer, The Vanishing Throne, The Fallen Kingdom), and short fiction published in the anthology Toil & Trouble. She was born and raised in California before moving to Scotland, where she earned her PhD at the University of St Andrews. She currently resides in Edinburgh, Scotland, with her husband and two cats.

Elizabeth May writes romance under the pen name Katrina Kendrick.” https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5303332.Elizabeth_May